Hopeless
by theoly21
Summary: Set after Wilson's Heart. Cameron finds Thirteen in a time of need. Camteen if you squint.


**A/N: This is my first attempt at a House fic. This story literally came out of nowhere and I wrote in it like 20 minutes. It basically wrote itself but I wrote it on a lot of Red Bull so I'm sorry if there's a lot of mistakes. Hope you enjoy :) Oh, and feel free to review!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the laptop I wrote this on.**

**Hopeless**

Cameron ran a hand through her hair as she made her way to the exit of the hospital. After everything that had happened with Wilson, House, and Amber, plus working in the ER, she was exhausted both physically and emotionally.

She'd heard about an hour ago about the passing of Amber. She'd tried to find Wilson but no one knew where he went. Most likely he went into hiding to be alone and she didn't blame him. She knew what he was going through. While she didn't lose her husband to something as violent as a bus accident, even though it was really flu antibiotics, he still died in a tragic way. Like Amber, it was slow and painful and just like Wilson, she'd had to watch as her loved one slowly slipped away. At least they both got to say goodbye.

The chilly winter air brought her out of her musings enough to make her realize that she was just standing outside the doors of the hospital. Shaking her head, she pulled her jacket tighter around herself before walking towards the parking lot. Up ahead she saw a lone figure sitting on one of the benches and squinted her eyes to see who it was in the dark. Who would be sitting outside the hospital in the cold at four in the morning?

Upon closer inspection, she realized that the lone figure sitting dejectedly on the bench was none other than Thirteen. She paused as she took in the numb look and glazed eyes of the younger woman. This was the first time that she'd seen the brunette show any kind of emotion other than anger or sarcasm and she wasn't sure how to handle it.

Cameron didn't think Thirteen and Amber were friends but surely if she was a normal human being, which she hoped she was despite all the rumors of her being cold and aloof, she would be affected by a former colleague dying so tragically. She was probably just as physically and emotionally drained as Cameron was after the past 24 hours working on helping House then trying to diagnose Amber.

Slowly, so as not to startle the other woman, she approached her. "Thirteen?" she questioned softly.

Thirteen flicked her eyes over to her for a split second before she went back to staring off into space. It wasn't until know that she realized that Thirteen wasn't wearing a jacket. Quickly shrugging out of her outer jacket, leaving her hoodie on to keep herself warm, she moved to wrap it around the other woman's shoulders.

This finally seemed to break her of her trance for she shook her head and brushed the jacket away. "I'm not cold."

Cameron looked at her disbelievingly. "Your face is beet red and you're shivering. If that's not a sign of being cold I don't know what is," she said, ignoring the protests of the other woman by wrapping the jacket around her shoulders.

Despite the protests, Thirteen put her arms through the sleeves and burrowed herself into the jacket as much as she could, hunching over to contain the heat. Cameron, not sure what she should do but knowing she couldn't just leave the younger doctor outside like this, sat down next to her on the bench, not bothering to ask if it was okay for her to do so.

"Why are you here?" the brunette asked out of the blue after a couple minutes of silence.

She turned to Thirteen, noticing she was still staring off into space. "I was just on my way to my car to go home. Why are you still here?"

There was no answer in return, instead merely a shrug. "Thanks for the jacket."

"No problem," she muttered, confused by the odd way the younger woman was acting. It was almost as if she was in shock. "Are you okay?"

That question elicited a dry laugh out of Thirteen, shocking Cameron. The laugh turned almost hysterical before it quickly diminished into nothing but heavy breaths.

"Do I look okay?" Thirteen asked, finally turning to look the blonde in the eye.

Cameron took her question seriously and did just as she asked. Her eyes were bloodshot, whether from crying or lack of sleep, she didn't know. Probably both. There were dark circles underneath her eyes and her skin was unusually pale. The spark that was usually present in her eyes was noticeably absent. As a matter of fact, basically every characteristic that she'd come to associate with the doctor was absent. No spark, no fire, no smirk, no aloofness. Instead, what she saw was something she never thought she'd see from the brunette.

Vulnerability.

It was something that she was sure that not very many people ever got to see from Thirteen and she wondered if Amber's death really had affected her enough to let her guards down so much as to leave herself open to the world. There had to be something else going on to make her look so despondent.

Truth be told, Cameron had always been a little intrigued by her replacement. It was obvious how much House enjoyed having her on his team. Whether it be from her suspected bisexuality or sarcastic wit that matched his own or the rumor of her having a terminal illness, she didn't know. Unfortunately, every time they'd been in the same room as each other Cameron had ended up being bitchy towards her, though it didn't seem to bother the other woman any. Still she felt bad about it. If she'd talked to her, made an effort to get to know her, maybe Thirteen would open up to her about what was bothering her.

"You look lost," she finally answered, truthfully.

Thirteen stared at her, those beguiling eyes unwavering from her own to the point that it started to unsettle her. Then tears formed in her eyes and her face scrunched up in a look of such hopelessness that it broke Cameron's heart. With a humorless laugh, she cracked a smile before turning to stare at nothing.

"You should go," she said, her voice thick and raspy, as if holding back tears.

"I'm not going to leave you like this," Cameron stated firmly.

"Why do you even care?" Thirteen shouted, suddenly angry.

Despite being caught off guard by the sudden change in mood, she didn't let the anger affect her. Thirteen was just acting out because she was obviously scared about something.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. "All I know is that you're hurting and I don't want to leave you alone."

"Dr. Cameron to the rescue. God, I don't want your pity. Everybody knows that you just want to fix everyone that's broken but let me tell you, I want nothing to do with you."

The young doctor's words stung, both because of the truth in them but also because of the obvious deflection of the other woman's own pain. So, instead of yelling back, Cameron just sat there next to her, waiting for what she hoped would be the other woman opening up to her. A few minutes later she wasn't disappointed.

"I hated her," Thirteen whispered.

Cameron looked over at the other woman with a frown. Surely she was talking about Amber, right? It was pretty common knowledge that her nickname had been 'Cutthroat Bitch.'

"I hated her so much that I blamed her for what was happening to her. I figured she deserved it for the way she was acting. I didn't realize that she was acting the way she was because of what was happening to her. The yelling and the flailing and shaking. I just wanted it to stop. I wanted her to leave. I wanted her dead."

Cameron's eyes widened when she realized that Thirteen must be talking about her mother. One of the rumors roaming about the halls of the hospital was that Thirteen's mother had died from Huntington's and that she herself might have the dreadful disease.

"When they finally took her away, I never said goodbye. She died thinking that I hated her. I never said goodbye," Thirteen whispered, horrified.

Cameron didn't know what to do. Thirteen was clearly off in her own world. She wasn't even sure if she knew that she was opening up to a practical stranger.

"I hated Amber but I never would wish that kind of death on anybody. She didn't deserve to die like that. Wilson doesn't deserve to go through this kind of pain. She was so young," she rambled on.

"I said goodbye to her. I had to say goodbye to her. I may have hated her but she didn't deserve to die thinking that she was alone. She didn't deserve that."

"Thirteen," she started but paused as she didn't know what to say. She wanted to reach out to comfort the other woman but figured she'd get pushed away or worse, the other woman would stop talking and push her away like the talk had never happened.

"I took the test."

At first she didn't know what she was talking about but then she glanced down and suddenly took notice to the scrap of paper that the brunette clenched tightly in her fists. It was hard to see, but Cameron could see the telltale printing of a DNA analysis test. Immediately her heart sunk into her stomach. She looked up at the other woman with wide eyes.

"I have Huntington's," Thirteen whispered, wiping at her face before facing the blonde.

Cameron felt sympathetic tears form in her eyes as she took in the other woman. In front of her, the normally confident and sarcastic doctor was sitting in what could only be described as doleful acceptance. She had to have known she had a high chance of inheriting the disease her mother had but there had always been hope that she might not have it. Now, that hope was shattered, leaving her defenseless and dreadful of the future. The disease would be a shadow over her for the rest of her short life. Cameron suddenly found it hard to see the normally beautiful and enigmatic doctor degrading until she was nothing more than a body with flailing limbs.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered sorrowfully.

"Me too," Thirteen muttered, looking out at the burning lights of the street light.

Looking at her, Cameron was overwhelmed with the need to make the other woman feel better, even if it was just for a short moment because she knew that while she was upset of finally knowing her fate, that wasn't the real reason for her despair. The real reason she was so upset was because unlike her mother and Amber, Thirteen didn't think she would have anyone with her in the end. She thought she was alone and that no one would care.

Needing her to know that she wasn't alone, Cameron reached out to cover the younger woman's hand with her own. She gripped the cold hand in hers, squeezing it. Thirteen looked over at her with confusion in her eyes so she answered her unasked question.

"You're not alone," she stated firmly.

She watched as the other woman looked at her in wonder, then at their joined hands before moving back up to her eyes, the tears forming again and leaking down her cheeks. Thirteen reached up to brush them off her cheeks but didn't break eye contact. She clenched her jaw and closed her eyes, trying to reign in her emotions and let out a shaky sigh.

Cameron looked out into the distance, content to just sit there with the other woman in her time of need. The squeezing of her hand made her glance down then up at the other woman and she let out a soft smile when she saw Thirteen looking at her with something akin to relief.

Neither woman knew how long they sat outside in the cold but neither seemed to notice. They were content with their newfound bond, much to the surprise of the both of them. When the street light across the street flickered a few times before going out completely, Thirteen seemed to realize what had just happened between the two. She pulled her hand out from the grip of the blonde's and Cameron sighed at the thought that their sudden bond had just been forgotten by the other woman.

But when she looked up, Thirteen was smiling softly at her. Though there were still tear tracks on her face, red rimming her eyes, and exhaustion clouding her aura, the younger woman seemed to be more at peace than when Cameron first spotted her outside by herself.

Thirteen stood up slowly and took off the jacket that Cameron had given her, handing it back to the blonde with a small smile. "Thanks for letting me borrow it."

Cameron stood up as well, taking the proffered jacket from the younger woman with a smile.

"No problem."

She turned to head back inside the hospital, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her jeans when suddenly she turned back around. "Dr. Cameron, thank you, for…"

The slight awkwardness in her posture made Cameron smile but instead of commenting on it, she simply accepted her gratitude. "Anytime, Dr. Hadley."

The use of her real name made Thirteen smile as she walked back to the hospital. Little did she know, that genuine smile helped restore Cameron's previously deflated energy.

_**Fin.**_


End file.
